Capital Digest

The House Appropriations Committee is compiling its own list of
potential budget cuts--including reductions for six education
programs--in response to President Bush's $5.6-billion "hit list'' of
programs he has proposed to eliminate.

The six programs that are set to receive delayed funding on Sept.
30--a device that held down outlay totals in the fiscal 1992
budget--would find those funds cut by 1 percent under a bill that would
trim previously approved spending by $5.7 billion.

About $25 million of the rescissions in the committee's bill would
come from programs overseen by the Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education Subcommittee.

The President proposed cutting $25 million from health-professions
programs. But subcommittee leaders instead would raise $19 million by
taking 1 percent from the $1.9 billion in delayed obligations.

Of that $1.9 billion, $301 million is earmarked for education
programs: $152 million for Chapter 1; $62 million for Pell Grants; $60
million for vocational education; $24 million for the
ôòéï programs; $2 million for impact aid, and
$1 million for the Star Schools program.

The plan would also cut the Public Health Service budget by $6
million.

A subcommittee aide said the panel plans to take up the matter soon
after the Congress returns from its Easter recess later this month.

A Senate aide said the counterpart Senate subcommittee will not act
until a bill is passed by the House.

The Senate has approved a fiscal year 1993 budget resolution that
recommends spending $50.7 billion for education, labor, and
social-services programs--freezing funding at 1992 levels.

The Senate approved the resolution on April 10 by a vote of 54 to
35, paving the way for a conference with the House, which recommended
$51.5 billion for the programs in the social-services spending
category.

The Senate resolution does not outline spending priorities within
categories.

The Senate debated an amendment to the resolution that called for a
limit on entitlement spending, a proposal that has been floated by
Budget Director Richard Darman.

The plan could help many education programs, but would restrict
funding for Stafford Student Loans, the only education entitlement.

The idea intrigues some appropriators, who could be left with more
money to divide among discretionary programs if required spending were
restricted.

But the amendment's sponsors withdrew it after the Senate voted 66
to 28 to exempt veterans' programs from the cap, indicating that
opponents were able to gut the proposal by adding exemptions.

Earlier, the Senate defeated several attempts to trim the
resolution's defense spending and transfer funds to domestic programs,
a move that can only be accomplished with changes to budgetary rules.
(See Education Week, April 8, 1992.)

House and Senate leaders have agreed on campaign-finance-reform
legislation, but it is unlikely to become law.

Republicans, who often outspend Democrats, oppose the compromise
bill's key components: voluntary spending limits and public financing
for candidates who adhere to them.

The House's 259 to 165 vote to approve the bill, which occurred on
April 9, is 31 votes shy of the number needed to override a certain
veto by President Bush.

The bill would also restrict state-party fundraising and the amount
candidates can collect from political-action committees. The latter
provision would curb the political power of interest groups, such as
the national teachers' unions, that have active PACs. Republicans have
proposed eliminating PAC contributions.

The bill does not include measures to pay for public financing, a
cost that is estimated at $100 million to $200 million per election
cycle, and includes different spending rules for the House and Senate,
another idea opposed by Republicans.

Each chamber approved its own bill last year, but the issue lay
dormant until voter outrage over abuses of Congressional perquisites
revived it.

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